Xponance Inc. Reduces Stock Position in News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA)

Xponance Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of News Co. (NASDAQ:NWSA) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 53,810 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,126 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in News were worth $1,321,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NWSA. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in News by 120.5% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 40,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $996,000 after buying an additional 9,924 shares in the last quarter. AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of News in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $584,000. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in News by 1,732.4% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 96,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,379,000 after acquiring an additional 91,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in News by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 37,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $910,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NWSA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded shares of News from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Macquarie upgraded News from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised News from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $29.50.

News Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $24.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion, a PE ratio of 61.40 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.44. News Co. has a 52-week low of $16.35 and a 52-week high of $28.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $25.74 and a 200 day moving average of $23.86.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. News had a return on equity of 4.14% and a net margin of 2.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that News Co. will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

News Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. News’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.00%.

News Profile

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates in six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.